Province fails to protect, restore pine beetle-ravaged area: report

GORDON HAMILTON, VANCOUVER SUN02.17.2012

B.C. Auditor-general John Doyle said in a report released Thursday that the province is ill-prepared to manage B.C’s beetle-ravaged forests which are heading toward a long-term decline in both value and diversity.Debra Brash, Postmedia News Files
/ Vancouver Sun

A stand of trees that has been infected with the pine beetle.Handout
/ Vancouver Sun

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B.C. is ill-prepared to manage B.C’s beetle-ravaged forests as they slide into a long-term decline in both value and diversity, Auditor-General John Doyle said in a report released Thursday.

“We are already facing the fact that the value of the forest is going to be diminished as we go forward, and future generations are not going to have what we had,” Doyle said in an interview.

Reforestation is not keeping up with the growing inventory of land in need of restocking, he said.

The report, which focuses on Interior forests, notes the provincial Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations is responsible for 22 million hectares of forestland with an estimated value of a quarter trillion dollars but it has no clear objectives on how to manage it.

Of that 22 million hectares, Doyle identifies 1.1 million hectares in need of reforestation. Existing replanting programs have averaged only 8,730 hectares a year over the last five years.

“The little bit that is being done is good; there’s nothing wrong with that. But how much more is required to actually bring the forests to an appropriate place?” he said.

“You’ve got to catch up somewhere.”

Factors in the decline of forest health are the mountain pine beetle, fire and a tendency by forest companies to replant lodgepole pine in cutblocks that were once mixed forests.

The report draws three significant conclusions:

The ministry lacks clearly defined timber objectives, without which it cannot ensure management practices are effective; existing management practices are insufficient to offset the trend of timber supply and declining biodiversity in some areas; monitoring of timber results is insufficient to measure whether existing objectives are being met.

The report’s recommendations include developing a stewardship plan with clearly defined objectives, creating a reforestation program that is sufficient to meet those objectives, and implementing performance measures to demonstrate progress.

John Allan, president of the B.C. Council of Forest Industries, referred to the report as “one piece of valuable information.”

“In most areas [the government] is striving to do their best. But what is missing in reports like this is the big picture. That is, that we are going to see a fall-down in the timber supply in the Interior — sooner rather than later — courtesy of the beetle.

“I think what has to happen is that there has to be a conversation with impacted communities so we can hear from those folks most immediately affected by the fall-down as to what the future might hold.”

Steve Thomson, minister of forests, lands and natural resource operations, countered the auditor-general’s conclusions do not take into account how the province is attempting to manage beetle-affected forests that have a diminished value for sawmills but may still have salvage value. Replanting them before inventory work is completed would be a mistake, he said.

He also disputed Doyle’s figures on the amount of land is in need of reforestation, as the inventory work is not yet completed. He estimated the province is responsible for restocking about 250,000 hectares of land.

Thomson said he appreciates the work done by Doyle, but disagrees with most of his findings. He said the ministry has clear objectives set out in the Forest and Range Practices Act.

“Overall [the report] identified the need to do inventory work. And we accept the recommendation that we need to provide the transparency, the reporting-out on it.

“And he has identified the important issue around making sure we recognize the importance of reforestation issues,” he said.

“We don’t necessarily agree with some of his conclusions in terms of estimates and numbers. We are confident that we have programs in place that meet our objectives.”

Thomson said inventory work is underway and within six months the ministry should have more accurate numbers on the amount of reforestation required.

He was also critical of Doyle’s finding that too much lodgepole pine is being replanted, saying species are chosen for their suitability to the terrain, their hardiness as well as timber production values.

“This is our most valuable resource. The auditor-general says it very politely but the conclusion is damning,” he said. “The auditor-general concludes that the B.C. Liberals have so mis-managed the public lands that they don’t know if they are effective in what they are doing on the land. They are likely creating a forest with a lower timber supply and less species diversity and they do not monitor what is happening on the land appropriately.”

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Province fails to protect, restore pine beetle-ravaged area: report

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